Ohio school shooter TJ Lane arrived at his sentencing hearing today wearing a blue button down shirt. After he sat down, he unbuttoned the shirt to reveal a white t-shirt with the word "killer" emblazoned across the front in black marker.
When Lane was given the opportunity to make a statement to the court, he made a short statement and then stuck his middle finger up in the courtroom filled with the loved ones of the three students he gunned down.
Lane, 18, smirked and smiled as family members of his victims called him "repulsive" and hoped for him to be locked up in a cage "like an animal" for the rest of his life.
"Frankly, I wasn't prepared for this," the prosecutor said moments after Lane's gesture. He said the action was proof that Lane is a "disgusting human being."
"This is confirming what we have known all along, that this was a cold, calculated, premeditated killing," the prosecutor said.
The judge sentenced Lane to life imprisonment without parole. Lane chuckled at the sentence.
Lane killed three students during a Feb. 27, 2012 rampage at Chardon High School. Daniel Parmertor, 16, Demetrius Hewlin, 16, and Russell King Jr., 17, were all killed. When he was captured a short time later he was wearing a grey shirt with the word "killer" written on the front.
Lane's defense attorney told the court that he "strongly urged" Lane not say what he was about to the court, but Lane proceeded anyway.
Lane smiled as a mother who lost her son said she is cynical now and devastated. She wished an "extremely slow, torturous death" for him.
"You don't deserve to take another breath while my 16-year-old son Danny lies in the cold, hard ground," Daniel Parmertor's mother said.
Lane plead guilty on Feb. 26 and faces life in prison.
